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Films screening this fortnight are listed below with certificate, star rating, credits, brief review and venue details. Film index compiled by Paul Dale ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry The A-Team (12A) ●●●●● (Joe Carnahan, USA, 2010) Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel. 118min. Just like the 80s TV show that spawned it, The A-Team is over the top, macho fun. Now based in Iraq, the old team reunites to retrieve stolen printing plates used for counterfeiting money. But for all its exuberance, this is an overly flashy endeavour and ends up feeling calculated, uncomfortable and empty. General release. Ae Fond Kiss (15) ●●●●● (Ken Loach, UK/Belgium/Germany/Italy/Spain, 2004) Atta Yaquib, Eva Birthisle, Shamshad Akhtar, Ghizala Avan, Shabana Bakhsh. 104min. Casim (Yaquib) is a nice Glaswegian lad from an Asian family. His upcoming ‘arranged marriage’ nuptials have got him disturbed but not too worried, but then he goes and meets blond haired blue eyed Roisin (Birthisle), his sister’s music teacher, and his world is turned upside down. Part of Festival of Spirituality and Peace. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Aisha (12A) (Rajshree Ojha, India, 2010) Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol. 135min. Jane Austen’s epic romance Emma is transplanted to Delhi and put to music for a third time following two earlier versions in 1953 and 2000. Cineworld Renfrew Street, Glasgow; Cineworld Fountainpark, Edinburgh. Alice in Wonderland 2D (PG) ●●●●● (Tim Burton, US, 2010) Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter. 108min. A sequel of sorts that takes in elements of both Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, this finds Alice (Wasikowska) as a teenager returning to Underland, which has long since fallen into the tyrannical grip of the Red Queen (Bonham Carter). Dark and visually arresting, yet not quite as emotionally involving as Burton’s very best work. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. Aliens in the Attic (PG) ●●●●● (John Schultz, UK, 2009) Ashley Tisdale, Robert Hoffman, Austin Robert Butler. 85min. Likeably frenetic sci-fi adventure about a family’s attempt to fight off knee high alien invaders. Cineworld Parkhead, Glasgow. Baarìa (15) ●●●●● (Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy, 2009) Francesco Scianna, Margareth Made, Angela Molina. 150min. Epic historical melodrama spanning five decades of 20th-century Sicilian history and three generations of the Torrenuova family. Their lives and loves are played out against
a backdrop of sudden and extreme political and social change (which is not always fully explained), lavish production and an overpowering Ennio Morricone score. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Beautiful Kate (15) ●●●●● (Rachel Ward, Australia, 2009) Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Ben Mendelsohn. 101min. British director Ward’s first film is an impressively acted drama about a writer who is haunted by memories of his beautiful twin sister – who died tragically a quarter century – when he returns to the remote family home for a last goodbye to his dying father. Skipping between the decaying, emotionally stifled present and the fertile land of the past, Ward achieves a distinctive visual sensibility for each era. Glasgow Film Theatre; Filmhouse, Edinburgh. The Blind Side (12A) ●●●●● (John Lee Hancock, US, 2010) Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates. 128min. Based on the moving true story of Michael Oher, a black teenager from the Memphis projects with burgeoning sporting talent, who is adopted by WASPs, led by Leigh Ann (Bullock). It’s been a huge success stateside, hailing from a mildly offensive line of American sports films, blandly but effectively directed by Hancock with Bullock valiantly delivering some of the worst dialogue ever uttered south of the Dixie line. Vue Ocean, Edinburgh. Bluebeard ●●●●● (Catherine Breillat, France, 2009) Dominique Thomas, Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir. 107min. This dark, misogynistic tale about a nobleman with a penchant for uxoricide (murder of a wife) is given a feminist twist, exploring the contradictions implicit in both romantic and feminist impulses. Somewhat visually sparse, but with an excellent cast, it is an idiosyncratic take on the fairytale and costume drama genres. Glasgow Film Theatre. The Brain Machine (U) ●●●●● (Ken Hughes, UK, 1954) Patrick Barr, Elizabeth Allan, Maxwell Reed. 83min. Racy (for its time) thriller from jobbing Brit director Hughes (best known for directing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), which combines drug smuggling, corporate corruption and a sinister thought analysis machine. Filmhouse, Edinburgh.
✽✽ Bronco Bullfrog (15) ●●●●● (Barney Platts-Mills, UK, 1969) Del
Walker, Anne Gooding, Sam Shepherd. 86min. Re-issue of Barney Platt-Mills’ 1969 cult British social drama set in the East End of London in which a young couple try to find some peace and solitude from the suedehead youths that hang around the streets. A genuine off-beat rediscovery, Bronco Bullfrog is a fascinating and moving portrait of forgotten London, one that foreshadows the early
Follow Me... I’m Right Behind You Enter the cut-throat world of pipe band
competitions with Andy Glen’s playful documentary which follows piping legend Barry Donaldson as he attempts to turn a bunch of beginners into World Pipe Band Championship material. A Q&A session with director Glen and some of the stars of the film will follow this screening. ■ GFT, Glasgow, Sun 8 Aug.
Index Film
polemical TV work of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh and the Punk movement. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 2D (U) ●●●●● (Brad Peyton, USA/Australia, 2010) Voices of James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate. 82min. Hairless sphinx cat Kitty decides to enslave humans. Likeable but instantly forgettable sequel to 2001’s live action adventure Cats & Dogs. General release. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3D (U) ●●●●● (Brad Peyton, USA/Australia, 2010) Voices of James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate. 82min. See above. General release. Children of God (15) (Kareem J Mortimer, Bahamas, 2009) Johnny Ferro, Stephen Tyrone Williams, Margaret Laurena Kemp. 103min. A heady collision of religion, politics and sexual discovery in the Bahamas, centring on a young man who faces challenges to his homosexuality from family and church alike. Part of London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on Tour. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Clash of the Titans 2D (12A) (Louis Leterrier, US, 2010) Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes. 105min. Classic Greek myth gets the modern special effects treatment. Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2D (U) ●●●●● (Phil Lord, US, 2009) Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan. 90min. Vivid and likeable animated version of Judi and Ron Barrett’s 1978 children’s book set in the town of Chewandswallow, where the weather comes three times a day, at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Grosvenor, Glasgow. Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky (15) ●●●●● (Jan Kounen, France, 2009) Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen, Yelena Morozova. 118min. See Also Released, page 104. Selected release. Le Concert (15) ●●●●● (Radu Mihaileanu, France/Italy/Romania/Belgium, 2009) Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov. 123min. A comedy following the escapades of an unemployed conductor who, in 1980 Brezhnev Russia, was fired for refusing to exclude Jewish musicians. We meet Andrei Filipov (Guscov) 25 years later as he attempts to make his comeback in Paris under false pretences. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Creative Identities Showcase (12A) (Various, UK, 2010) 105min. Films made by looked after young people, young carers and young people at risk across East and Central Scotland at part of Pilton Video and Scottish Screen’s Creative Identities programme. Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Date Night (15) ●●●●● (Shawn Levy, US, 2010) Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg. 88min. Comedy royalty Carell and Fey play a couple from the ‘burbs who decide to escape the kids for an evening and head for a trendy Manhattan eatery. Problems start when they get mistaken for a pair of thieves being hunted down by two corrupt cops – a hit-and-miss adventure follows and a rather formulaic outlook ensures it’s all rather forgettable in the end. Odeon at the Quay, Glasgow. Dear John (12A) ●●●●● (Lasse Hallström, US, 2010) Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins. 108min. Seyfried plays Savannah, a student who strikes up a relationship with on leave soldier John Tyree (Tatum), but their romance is stymied when Tyree decides to put his military career first, and the inevitable Dear John letter results in mutual heartbreak. Empire, Clydebank.
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GLASGOW QUIZ ANSWERS
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1 Mike and Bernie Winters 2 Marlborough House
3 Oasis
4 Scotland and England (1872)
5 Gilmorehill
MUSIC
1 Divine 2 QMU
3 Splash by 13th Floor Elevators 4 Gene Simmons from KISS had trademarked the logo of a canvas bag with a dollar sign on it, and sued Teenage Fanclub over the artwork for Bandwagonesque.
5 chem. 19 FASHION
1 b
2 c
3 a
4 c 5 a
CLUBS
1 a 2 b
3 c 4 a
5 b
BOOKS
1 b 2 a
SEE QUIZ PAGE 92
3 Paddy Meehan 4 c
5 fucked, fuckers, fucked
HISTORY
1 b 2 c
3 b 4 b
5 c
PHOTO ROUND
A Nice ‘n’ Sleazy B SECC Walkway
C The Garage
D Queen’s Park duck pond E Prince’s Square peacock
F Kevinhall Subway sculpture
G Union Railway Bridge H Central Station clock
HOW DID YOU DO? 1-10: You’re from Edinburgh.
11-20: You can almost walk from the top of Sauchiehall Street to the bottom of Buchanan Street without getting lost.
21-30: You moved to Glasgow years ago, but still struggle to be considered a ‘native’. 31: You are Weegie through and through! Treat yersel’ tae a gless boatil ae ginger
5–12 Aug 2010 THE LIST 105